Improvement in car-replacers



2 Sheets-#Sheet 1.

LT. BAXTER. Improvement in Car-Replacers.

Patented Sep. 17, 1872.

2 Sheets--Sheet 2..

J. T. BAXTER.

Improvement in Car-Replacers.

Patented Sep.17, 1872.

/zvezor @Me/www. 4 J we@ W/W 1 f @ze JOHN T. BAXTER, OF FINKSBURG, MARYLAND.

IMPROVEMENT IN CARHREPLACERS..

Specification forming part of Letters Fatent No. Hd, dated September 17, 1872.

To all 'whom t may concern.-

Be it known that I, JOHN T.` BAXTER, of Finksburg, in the county of Carroll and State of Maryland, have invented certain Improvements in Car-Replacers, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawing making part of the same, in which- Figure 1 represents a railroad track having my improved device applied thereto, and Fig. 2, a similar view, showing the same device applied to the other side of the track. Fig. 3 represents an end view of Fig. l, and Fig. 4 a plan of the lower side of the improved supplementary rails, and Fig. 5 a plan of the clamp-block.

I am aware that oar-replacers on the same general principle as mine have been previously made by others, but in none of them,

so far as I know, can the supplementary rails be adjusted and clamped to the rail at any required point and angle, in order to meet all ordinary emergencies, for the reason that the cross-ties interfere with the proper clamping of the supplementary rails to the rails of the track, as the devices for this purpose are now constructed. My improvement is designed especially to overcome this. difliculty, and is confined to-the special means devised by me of clamping the supplementary to the ordinary rails of the track.

To enable others skilled in the art to make, construct, and use my invention, I will now proceed to describe it in detail, omitting a particular description of such parts of the roadbed as are non-essential to a perfect understanding of my improvements.

A represents the rails of an ordinary railroad track, secured, in the usual manner, to the cross-ties B. To these are applied, at the requisite point for the purpose, two supplementary rails, C and C', the one, C, on the outside of the track, and the other, C', between the rails A. The forward ends a of these rails are made on each side to conform in shape to the form of rails laid on the track on which they are intended to be used, as shown in Fig. 3, and for this purpose may in that respect be made of 'any required shape. They are also provided with a wedge-shaped continuation, b, of their lower side at the front end, as seen in Fig. 4. This wedge-shaped projection enables them to receive the requisite bearing on the nearest tie for the support of the weight of the car or locomotive being replaced on the track, while it also enables their front end to be snugly adjusted to the side of the rails A, despite their lower iiange. The upper edge of the supplementary rails C C are inclined rearward to their lower edge, so that at their end they are much lower than the upper edge of the railsA, and thereby present an easy incline for the rolling up of the wheels of the car to be replaced. The one of the supplementary railsmarked C is made, at its forward end, as much deeper than the other, C', as the flange of the ordinary car or locomotivewheel projects from its periphery, as represented in Fig. 3, so that as the wheels of the car on the outside of the track are rolled upward, the lower edge of their flanges will be made to clear the outer and upper edge of the rails A, and afterward pass freely over them to their normal position on the inside of the upper edge of these rails.

In the event that the car is entirely off the track, then two of these last rails would be required, as also a connecting-rail for carrying the one side of the car to the other rail of the track, but that is a contingency which will seldom arise, and, against which it is not necessary at present further more particularly to provide, as such appliances will readily suggest themselves to the parties in charge. These supplementary rails C and C are securely clamped to the rails A by means of the clamp-blocks D and wedges E, for which purpose each clamp-block on its upper side and near one end is provided with a groove, o, into which the rail A fits, one edge of the lower flange of the rail taking into a recess or slot, d, cut in the side of this groove, as shown in Figs. 3 and 5, while the Wedge or key E is driven between the other side of the ilange of the rail and the side of a corresponding recess, e, formed in the other side of the groove e of the clamp, as shown in the same iigures. The clamps being thus secured to the rails A, the supplementary rails C and C' are then adjusted to the required angle in the angular grooves f, formed on the other end of the clamps, and then made fast by keys F. Two sets of elampblocks, having their angular grooves f formed iu'opposite directions, are

required, in order to replace cars from either side of the track, although they may be made in one, one set on each face; but the former, for some reasons, is deemed the better mode. For the perfect adjustment of these rails at the necessary angles, two wedges or keys for each angular groove may be used, one for each side of the groove or supplementary rail, although for ordinary cases one will sufice. When required for use, the rails G C are adjusted in a line with the car, such as that shown in Figs. 1 and 2, according to whichever side of the track the car lies.

The operation is as follows: The inclined Vends of the rails C and C' are adjusted below the respective treads of the adjoining wheels of the car, and their forward ends then keyed fast to the rails by the clamps D and keys before referred to. The car is to be then forced up the inclined plane thus yformed by these rails until fairly replaced upon the track, after which the keys F, which clamp the rails C and C to the rails A, are loosened, and then the keys E, which fasten the clamps themselves to the rails A, are loosened in the same way, and the whole then gathered up and stowed away in some suitable place on the engine or tender, or in some one of the baggage or freight cars.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is j The plate D as constructed with grooves c and f and slots e and d, in combination with supplementary rails C and C', and wedges E and F, for the purpose set forth.

JOHN T. BAXTER.

Witnesses:

P. HANNAY, D. G. STUART. 

